“Some days ago, our Tianxuan Mansion’s guards were sent out to purchase some supplies, and on the way, they ran into the guards from the Prime Minister’s Manor, and they were claiming the things our guards wanted were reserved by them long ago.” Fei Hou replied. “Then, an argument ensued. One of the Prime Minister’s guards suddenly attacked, injuring one of our mansion guards, and thus, a fight broke out.”

Huang Xiaolong nodded.

Prime Minister Manor?

“Pass this order; if they run into any Prime Minister Manor’s guards, no need to be polite, breaking their faces or crippling them doesn’t matter as long as they aren’t dead!” Huang Xiaolong’s cold voice sharply sounded.

“Yes Sovereign!” Fei Hou readily acknowledged the order.

“Any news about Deities Templar?” Out of nowhere, Huang Xiaolong suddenly changed the topic. His voice sounded solemn when he asked the question.

A year ago, Huang Xiaolong had tasked Fei Hou to find out about the so-called Deities Templar.

Fei Hou shook his head: “No news.”

In the last twelve months or so, he had exhausted all the connections he had, even instructing the Yuwai Kingdom’s Fei Mansion to look for clues about Deities Templar, yet it was all for nothing.

It was as if this Deities Templar didn’t exist. Truth be told, when he was trying to find out about this Deities Templar, there seemed to be an invisible, tacit collaboration to exclude him and prevent him from finding more information.

Fei Hou explained this unnatural feeling of exclusion to Huang Xiaolong.

Listening to Fei Hou’s description, Huang Xiaolong began to have pensive thoughts.

As if it doesn’t exist? It seems this Deities Templar was more powerful and mysterious than he had initially thought.

I wonder how that girl Li Lu is doing now. Huang Xiaolong thought to himself.

Last year when Li Lu left, the festive cheeriness in Tianxuan Mansion dampened considerably, and now, once again, the end of the year had arrived. In another month or so, it would be another New Year.

However, Li Lu’s second martial spirit had awakened before she left: twin swords martial spirits of light and darkness, one positive and one negative, a balance of Yin and Yang. Her cultivation speed must be terrifying, and in one year’s time, she probably advanced to the Eighth Order!

Gathering his thoughts, Huang Xiaolong continued his discussion with Fei Hou, asking about the Nine Tripod Commerce and Tianxuan Mansion’s matters.

The Nine Tripod Commerce had started to expand, opening branches in the neighboring kingdoms with as much as a hundred thousand transactions on a daily basis.

Since the last incident with Clear Cloud Pavilion causing troubles in the Big Dawn County, Huang Xiaolong told Fei Hou to hire Eighth Order, Ninth Order, and Tenth Order warriors to improve the security of the Nine Tripod Commerce branches.

After all, what the Nine Tripod Commerce didn’t lack was money.

Although it was hard to lure Tenth Order warriors to join them, the Eighth and Ninth Order warriors were not a problem.

After he finished listening to Fei Hou’s report regarding these matters, Huang Xiaolong asked Fei Hou about his progress in cultivation.

Fei Hou had reached the sixth level of the Liquid Thunder Arts that Huang Xiaolong passed to him, and the current Fei Hou was at peak Xiantian First Order. But, breaking through to Xiantian Second Order was still a few years away.

Fei Hou’s martial spirit was limited by its innate talent of being a grade ten spirit. With this limitation, even if Fei Hou swallowed the Fire Dragon Pearls Huang Xiaolong supplied every day, advancing to Xiantian Second Order would still require a few years.

A short while later Fei Hou retreated from the room.

Before Fei Hou stepped out, Huang Xiaolong withdrew thirty Fire Dragon Pearls and gave them to him.

The truth was, without Fei Hou, it was impossible for the Nine Tripod Commerce to have developed so fast during these past seven years. Although Fei Hou only followed Huang Xiaolong’s ideas and method of implementation, without Fei Hou’s presence and his management skills, the Nine Tripod Commerce probably could not achieve half the success it had today.

After Fei Hou had left, Huang Xiaolong headed towards his parents’ courtyard. When he arrived, both Huang Peng and Su Yan were practicing battle skills together in their yard.

With Huang Xiaolong’s help, Huang Peng’s and Su Yan’s cultivation had increased significantly.

Huang Peng already broke through to peak early-Eighth Order whereas Su Yan advanced to the peak late-Seventh Order.

Seeing Huang Xiaolong walk into the yard, both of them had a wide smile on their faces and stopped whatever they were doing. Su Yan even came and held Huang Xiaolong’s hand, pulling him to a garden stool. Watching Huang Peng and Su Yan, Huang Xiaolong felt warmth in his heart.

Two hours later, Huang Xiaolong left his parents’ yard, initiated the God Binding Ring, and entered the ancient battlefield to practice.

Even though he had broken through to the peak late-Tenth Order, Huang Xiaolong aimed to step into the Xiantian realm before heading out to the Duanren Empire to join the Imperial City Battle.

In his opinion, the better the result he achieved, the more attention he would receive, especially in regards to cultivation resources. Once he enrolled into the Duanren Institute, it would create a more favorable cultivation environment for Huang Xiaolong.

Although he was said to be Asura’s Gate Sovereign, the fact still remained that he didn’t actually have that position officially, so there was no way for him to get cultivation resources from there.

Another month passed.

Huang Xiaolong’s routine was practicing Asura Tactic and Body Metamorphose Scripture in the ancient battlefield. The feeling of entering Stage Ten of the Body Metamorphose Scripture was getting stronger.

Other than those two things, Huang Xiaolong spent most of his extra time on the Asura Sword Skill and God Binding Palm.

Huang Xiaolong’s effort in practicing Asura Demon Claw was significantly lower compared to the rest.

This was due to its strict training requirement of absorbing blood soul qi.

Time flowed, and the end of the year inched closer and closer as one more month passed by. Huang Xiaolong’s battle qi drew infinitely close to the Xiantian level.

Reaching the peak late-Tenth Order, Huang Xiaolong’s muscles and flesh were toned and firm and his tendons were more flexible and vibrant, containing a savage, explosive power. The outer layer of his skin was extremely tough, and according to his estimates, if he soul transformed with the Black Dragon, even if a peak late-Tenth Order expert stabbed him with a sharp sword, he would not receive any injuries. At most, it would leave a vague white line on the surface without breaking into his skin.

“Tomorrow is the Academy’s competition.” Huang Xiaolong muttered to himself.

This time, not only did Huang Xiaolong want to get first place for the Third Year competition, he wanted to snatch the overall Academy number one spot!

Steeling his resolve, Huang Xiaolong exited the ancient battlefield.

Walking into the main hall, Huang Xiaolong saw both of his parents, Huang Peng and Su Yan, as well as his younger siblings, Huang Min and Huang Xiaohai. They were all talking happily about something.

“What’s the happy occasion?” Huang Xiaolong said with a smile on his face as he walked in.

Seeing it was Huang Xiaolong, everyone in the main hall was delighted.

“Xiaolong, it’s great that you’re out from closed-door practice. Min’er just said she invited that Guo Tai over for a meal in the next few days.” Su Yan explained the matter while beaming-- it was obvious she was in a good mood.

“Oh, is that so?” Huang Xiaolong turned towards his younger sister, Huang Min.

Huang Min nodded shyly in affirmation.

“Does Guo Shiyuan know the two of you are getting along?” Huang Xiaolong asked.

Huang Min shook her head at this, saying “Guo Tai mentioned he will bring it up with his father in the next few days.”

Su Yan added: “Although the Guo Family is a powerful family from Duanren Empire, our current Huang Family is not weak. Our Min’er definitely pairs well with Guo Tai. When Guo Shiyuan knows about this, he surely won’t have any objections.”

Huang Xiaolong nodded as he took a seat in the main hall. Then, his attention shifted onto his younger brother, Huang Xiaohai. Huang Xiaohai may be two years younger than Huang Min, but his martial spirit talent was higher than Huang Min’s. After the New Year, he would be fourteen, yet he was already a late-Sixth Order warrior.

Night came. Hazy moonlight shone down.

Tonight, Huang Xiaolong did not practice. He stood in the yard, reminiscing about certain people and certain matters.

In a month’s time, after the New Year he would be seventeen years old.

Seventeen, meaning he has been here in the Martial Spirit World for seventeen years.

Is there a possibility that I could return to Earth... A thought flashed across Huang Xiaolong’s mind.

The night gradually deepened as Huang Xiaolong stayed in the yard in a meditative posture while adjusting his breathing and mood.

When it was daybreak, Huang Xiaolong withdrew from his meditation and stood up. Walking out from his own courtyard, he walked in the direction of the main hall so he could head to the Academy with his siblings.

When they reached the Cosmic Star Academy, they ran into Lu Kai. Noticing Huang Xiaolong, joy seemed to bloom on Lu Kai’s face as he walked up and gave Huang Xiaolong a friendly punch on his shoulder. “Bro, I just heard you were promoted to the Third Year Class, don’t tell me you plan on snatching the Class’s first place?”