Chapter 264: Yao Lao Falling Into A Deep Slumber  

Staring at the pale-blue metal pieces with changing expression, an anxiety flashed across the tranquil and indifferent face of this person, who was the leader of the Misty Cloud Sect. Her hand clenched silently and her heart flipped repeatedly.

“Why are there fragments of the ‘Sea’s Core Vest’ around here? Don’t tell me that little fellow was also here just now? Since the ‘Sea’s Core Vest’ has already been broken, he should have also received an extremely serious injury. This guy, why is it that he always appears wherever there is trouble?” The gorgeous robed lady’s gaze that carried some anxiety swept across the ground. However, she did not find even the slightest bit of a suspicious trace. Her eyebrows became slightly vertical with some anger hidden in them.

“Sect Leader Yun Yun, what’s this?” On one side, the old man could not help but become stunned when he saw the gorgeous robed lady actually show such an emotion. His voice was surprised as he asked, This was the first time that he had seen this person, who was in control of the Misty Cloud Sect, reveal so many unusual emotions at once.

“Haha, nothing.” Being shocked awake by the old man’s voice, the pretty face of the gorgeous robed lady quickly buried its expression. An instant later, she recovered the indifference from before. She smiled, stored the ‘Sea’s Core Vest’ fragment into her storage ring in front of that old man and softly voiced her opinion, “Jia Lao, I think that we should investigate the actual identities of the four Dou Huangs. After all, it is unlikely that two Dou Huangs from other empires have entered Jia Ma Empire simply to tour.”

Hearing this, the old man immediately eyed the gorgeous robed lady somewhat strangely. Her character did not appear to be someone who seemed to be interested in such things.

“What exactly are those metal fragments from before?” Doubt flashed across the old man’s heart. As the guardian of the empire’s imperial family, the investigation of these strong people from outside the empire was part of his duty. He had originally wanted to open his mouth and request for the Misty Cloud Sect to also help at the same time. He did not expect that she would actually open her mouth first. Therefore, the old man simply smiled and nodded his head. He helped move things along as he laughed, “Just as well.”

“Below us is Yan City. The headquarters of the Mo clan is coincidentally here. Let’s go and gather some information first.” The gorgeous robed lady’s pretty eyes shifted toward the city below and she smiled. Immediately, she chose to descend outside of Yan City. Behind her, the old man followed at a steady pace.

Three days later, in the Rock Desert City, ‘Desert Metal Mercenary Company’ headquarters.

A faint sandalwood scent shrouded the quiet room, causing people’s spirit to feel somewhat comfortable and intoxicated. On the bed in the corner of the room, lay a young man whose eyes were tightly closed. The interval between each weak breath was very long, resulting in others involuntarily feeling that the breath of his would suddenly cease, creating the most tragic ending.

As the young man laid unconscious on the bed, he could vaguely sense that there were people pacing up and down around him. A long time later, a few soft sighs sounded and then slowly disappeared.

After an unknown number of times in which the door had been slammed shut, the finger of the young man on the bed, who was like a dead person, suddenly shook gently. A while later, his weak breath finally became a little stronger. Another while later, his eyelashes gently trembled. His eyelids struggled as they opened slightly.

A faint gentle lamp light seeped through his eyes. Xiao Yan’s hand abruptly tightened as he did his best to shift his gaze. After completely sizing up this somewhat familiar looking room, he finally heaved a heavy sigh of relief. His entire body was weak and exhausted as he lay on the soft bed without having even the slightest strength to move.

Xiao Yan inhaled and exhaled slightly. When his mind was completely awake as waves of memories swiftly swarmed out from the deep regions of his mind, causing Xiao Yan to recall the proceedings of the entire matter.

“I guess that I was injured.” Remembering the intense pain he felt when the destructive flame swept over, Xiao Yan laughed bitterly. He gently inhaled a mouthful of air that carried a slight sandalwood scent. When his head was a little clearer, he slowly closed his eyes and let his mind gradually descend into his inner body.

As his mind descended into his body, a dilapidated inner body condition that caused Xiao Yan to be stunned, immediately appeared in his mind’s eye.

Eyeing his inner body, which was destroyed forcefully by the terrifying energy, Xiao Yan’s heart suddenly sank greatly. Although he was able to guess that his injury was serious, he did not expect that the ‘seriousness’ of it had actually reached such an extent. If it was someone else who possessed the current miserable condition that his body was in, there was only one fate for him or her. That was to completely become a cripple!

“This is going to be a lot of trouble!” Xiao Yan muttered bitterly in his heart. His mind followed the shattered Qi Paths and slowly flowed along. Finally, it arrived at the vortex at his lower abdomen. Eyeing the inside of the vortex which only had a few droplets of green colored liquid energy remaining, he sighed in his heart. This was simply making matters worse.

At the middle of the vortex, a tiny glow wiggled slightly. Within that glow hid Xiao Yan’s greatest trump card, the ‘Green Lotus Core Flame’. However, the current Xiao Yan did not dare to withdraw and deploy a wisp of green flame. Currently, the Qi Paths in his body had already reached a critical point. He did not doubt that if anyone was to give his body a violent smack, he would really be utterly finished.

With heavy feelings, Xiao Yan withdrew his mind from his body and slowly opened his eyes. He smiled bitterly, shook his head and sighed.

Xiao Yan stared blankly at the ceiling for a while before his heart suddenly trembled slightly. Since he had woken up until now, he had felt as though something was missing. Now, he had finally remembered. There was actually no activity from Yao Lao.

Recalling this matter, Xiao Yan’s expression immediately became extremely ugly. His heart hurriedly called out, “Teacher? Teacher?”

The shouting persisted for a few minutes but he did not receive the slightest response. It was as though his voice was a rock sinking in the vast ocean. Xiao Yan’s heart began to sink further as the time taken for Yao Lao to respond lengthened.

“Did something happen?” The corner of Xiao Yan’s mouth twitched. He suddenly felt his mouth totally dry. A panicked feeling quietly spread out from deep within his heart. This kind of panic was similar to the panic created when the genius him back then turned into a useless being overnight.

Ever since he and Yao Lao became acquainted with each other, Xiao Yan’s heart would feel incomparably steady and certain as long as the former was around. This was because regardless of what happened, Xiao Yan was clear that as long as Yao Lao was around, the latter would definitely not allow him to really die. Currently, however, there was suddenly no news of Yao Lao. This caused Xiao Yan, who had always been relying on him to really feel a panic, which he had difficulty hiding.

Xiao Yan bit his lips tightly as he used all the strength in his body to lift his palm. When he saw the perfectly safe, black colored, old ring on his finger, he finally gave a gentle sigh of relief. He did his best to suppress the panic in his heart and once again closed his eyes. The Spiritual Strength entangled together in front of his body to form a thread. After which, it touched the black colored ring.

When his spiritual strength had just touched the black colored ring, an enormous suction force erupted from within it. At that moment, Xiao Yan had no time to defend against it and it sucked him into the black colored ring.

The feeling from his Spiritual Strength was at first completely dark. Quickly following this, it appeared within a circle cover that was filled with a white glow. Within the cover, Yao Lao’s blurry figure was suspended in midair, smiling as he stared at this wisp of weak little Spiritual Strength of Xiao Yan.

“Little fellow, you are finally awake.” Yao Lao floated closer to Xiao Yan as he said with a smile.

“Teacher, are you alright?” Seeing Yao Lao’s figure, the heavy burden within Xiao Yan’s heart was eased. However, even though his heart had become a little lighter, Xiao Yan was not stupid. In the past, when Yao Lao spoke to him, he could directly speak in his heart. Currently, on the other hand, he needed to enter the black colored ring in order to converse. From this, he was able to tell that Yao Lao’s situation would not be very good.

“I will tell you some good news and some bad news.”

Yao Lao smiled. His palm patted on the illusionary human figure that Xiao Yan had used his Spiritual Strength to create. With a pleased smile, Yao Lao said, “The good news is that I admire you greatly. The ‘Angry Buddha Lotus Flame’ that you have created possesses a destructive strength that even amazed myself. In the future, if you are able to perfectly create it, I think you should have no opponents of similar class as you who can beat you.”

Xiao Yan’s face did not have any joy. The ‘Angry Buddha Lotus Flame’ did indeed have a great strength but the price of using it was similarly terrifying and was difficult to accept.

“As for the bad news, perhaps you have already discovered that inner body of yours which was damaged until a complete mess?” Yao Lao smiled and asked.

“Yes, it’s very serious.” Xiao Yan nodded his head and sighed, “Basically, it’s about to fall apart.”

“Haha, the injury may be serious, but as long as you recuperate properly, it will gradually recover. I have already fixed up a recuperation program. Later, I will pass it on to you. As long as you do according to what I say, you will return back to your peak state.” Yao Lao said with a smile.

“What about you Teacher?” The sensitive Xiao Yan heard the slightly out of tune tone of Yao Lao and he hurriedly asked.

“Me? This perhaps is the greatest bad news. Although you have successfully created an explosive feast that could be called perfect, it had extracted nearly seventy percent of my Spiritual Strength. Adding this to the need to protect you in the final flame wave, my Spiritual Strength is nearly completely exhausted.” Yao Lao bitterly smiled and replied.

Hearing this, Xiao Yan’s expression changed drastically. The illusionary human figure that was formed form from the agglomeration of his Spiritual Strength suddenly fluctuated.

“Don’t worry. Although my Spiritual Strength is completely exhausted, it does not mean that it cannot be recovered. I only need to fall into a deep slumber for a period of time like I did in the past.” Yao Lao gently looked at Xiao Yan who was biting his lips tightly and said with a smile, “During a period of time in the future, Teacher may no longer be able to continue protecting you. You have to rely on yourself for everything.”

Eyeing the peacefully smiling Yao Lao, Xiao Yan’s eyes suddenly became much redder. He held his fist tightly and said in a soft hoarse voice, “I’m sorry, Teacher.”

Xiao Yan knew clearly in his heart that if he had not been so bent on having his own way and merging the ‘Heavenly Flame’, Yao Lao’s Spiritual Strength would definitely not have been completely absorbed. He also would not need to fall into a slumber now in order to recover his strength.

“Haha, you need not feel remorseful. I am only going to enter a slumber for a period of time and not completely vanish. I am extremely satisfied with the ‘Angry Buddha Lotus Flame’ that you have created. My student is indeed different from ordinary people!” Yao Lao patted Xiao Yan’s shoulder and laughed.

“Alright, the remaining Spiritual Strength is about to be completely consumed. You should leave. As for the matter regarding Qing Lin, you need not be too worried. That Lu Man will not treat her like the Mo clan. You can be rest assured.” Yao Lao’s body suddenly became much more obscured as he waved at Xiao Yan and said.

“Teacher, take care!” Xiao Yan’s knees slowly knelt in the empty space. His eyes were red as his head faced Yao Lao and heavily knocked downward.

TL; The action of kneeling and bowing one’s head onto the ground is the highest form of respect one can give.

Yao Lao was pleased as he eyed Xiao Yan, who had experienced this turn of events and completely broken free from the tender youthful self he had been in the past. He smiled and nodded his head. The illusionary body of his finally and gradually disappeared from the light circle.

“Little Fellow, I hope that when I finally wake up, I will be able to see a disciple who has completely become a strong person. I have stored some ‘Bone Chilling Flame’ in the ring. During a crisis, you can use it. Additionally, since I have known you until now, I have been extremely satisfied with you.” The faint laughter that contained some expectations slowly sounded within the light circle and did not disappear for a long time.

Xiao Yan slowly stood up. He eyed the empty light circle and sighed with grief. From now on, he had to face this entire word alone.